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5 Vegas Cask Strength box pressed toro

webmostwebmost Posts: 7,713 ✭✭✭✭✭
I am usually pretty good at finding fault with you name it. I failed miserably here. The worst I can say, this stick had a wee chip knocked out of the wrapper right by the cap. Other than that, aces.

This is another one from Rain's bomb. It's a rectangular box pressed six inch 64 gauge toro. The criollo wrapper is absolutely the smoothest you will ever see this side of a White Owl.. This one had just one discernible vein, located on the back side, and that vein appeared to have been rolled flat with a rolling pin. The binder underneath this criollo must have been rolled equally smooth, because no place whatever on this stick revealed the least seam or bump. In short, the shape and construction are as impeccable as human ingenuity can devise.

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The color is dark chocolate. The maroon bands, especially the one at the foot, complement the color. At the foot, you see nothing but ligero wrapped inside. It smells like molasses in a cedar box. Let me expand on molasses. Molasses is a dark thick sweetener which does not taste sweet in any sugary sense, but has its own unique heavy flavor. Rum is made from fresh rough cane molasses. Not refined molasses that comes in a bottle for kitchen use, that you make everything from barbecue sauce to gingerbread out of; I mean the crude stuff they call blackstrap molasses. My grandpa used to pour blackstrap over silage for his dairy cows. If you don't know blackstrap, then I am at a loss how to describe this stick to you.

Blackstrap molasses is the key ingredient in this cigar's flavor. They call it "cask strength", but there is nothing strong about it. It is smooth as stone-washed silk, mellow as a dock on grandma's pond, cool as an April breeze.

And it doesn't change much, either. A bit of pepper comes and goes, a bit of chocolate comes and goes, a bit of cedar comes and goes, a bit of oak... but always blackstrap is the backbone. The first sniff is blackstrap and cedar. The unlit skin of it is blackstrap and cedar. I had to cut twice to uncap it, cause the cap adhered. Underneath the cap was blackstrap and barn. The unlit draw was blackstrap and pepper. .One match toasted the foot, and there was blackstrap and cedar smoke first hit. Sweet without sugar. It had to be the coolest smoke ever, too, temperature wise. A medium volume. A dry woody retro. A hint of pepper and chocolate in the finish. But so soft. Soft. Soft as a sleeping aureola.

Half an inch in, the volume got big. The stick had a patient wavy burn. I could set it down long enough to go do an entire honey-do, or go check on my Yellow Orinoco sprouts, or follow Bearswatter to the front yard where she wanted to show me that the four baby birds born in her hanging jug nest have already flown away. Each time, I returned to the garage to find cinco vegas fully alive, soft as ever. The finish I took with me when I walked away was oak. The aroma I encountered as I walked back in the garage was chocolate. The flavor when I hit the cigar again was blackstrap.

Now, having seen "Cask Strength" written on the label, I had already poured out a glass of tequila, expecting something with a kick. Tequila flavor complemented the thing just right. Alas, tequila's kick undid me. This cigar is very easily a two hour smoke. But somewhere about an hour in, tequila had my tongue numb. That and all this ligero nicotine had my brain numb. From here on, I watched baseball on the garage toob in a daze. Extinguished the thing about two hours and a quarter along. By that time, I was in no kind of shape to be able to assess the stinkfinger. This morning, I had a morning mouth stronger than the stick itself. Excellent with cafe con leche. No wheeze at all.

A mild smoke done top notch. Guys who think more stronger is better will be disappointed. Me, I give it a full five stars. I would smoke this again in a heartbeat.

Sans tequila this time.

“It has been a source of great pain to me to have met with so many among [my] opponents who had not the liberality to distinguish between political and social opposition; who transferred at once to the person, the hatred they bore to his political opinions.” —Thomas Jefferson (1808)


Comments

  • Gray4linesGray4lines Posts: 4,691 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Good write up! I have tried one cask strength, and I though it was fantastic... I agree that it is not particularly strong in terms of spice or knock-you-on-your-ass power, but for me it was definitely not a mild stick. There is some strength buried in there between the sweet and peppery flavors. Maybe you'll notice a little more strength when you go sans tequila. Maybe not.

    Great stick though, I'd smoke em again in a second! I need to add it to the cigars-to-get list.
    LLA - Lancero Lovers of America
  • curtpickcurtpick Posts: 2,757 ✭✭✭
    Have one sitting. The ones I have smoked I really enjoyed.
    Family, Friends, Golf, Cigars, Fine Whiskey, Good beer.... is there anything else ?  Follow on instagram @crguy1961
  • Russ55Russ55 Posts: 2,765 ✭✭
    This is one of my go to cheapies. Good for when I am doing the barbeque, homework, or in the pool. It's a great stick that I can enjoy, or ignore and not worry about. I should probably buy more.
  • taythegibstaythegibs Posts: 2,025
    i love these things, iirc Medic is a CSII ****, but her is on vacation so i doubt he'll chime in anytime soon.
  • RhamlinRhamlin Posts: 8,908 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Good write up I always enjoy these I to was expecting something with some power the first time.ive got about 5 in the humi a couple with close to 2 years on them.
  • kingjk729kingjk729 Posts: 2,579 ✭✭✭
    These Casks just keep getting better with age.
  • StsepasStsepas Posts: 475
    I like these a lot ! I'm thinking about picking up a box of em
  • CigarMan37CigarMan37 Posts: 432
    Always love anything 5 Vegas
  • Gray4linesGray4lines Posts: 4,691 ✭✭✭✭✭
    CigarMan37:
    Always love anything 5 Vegas
    Me too! And these are among the best
    LLA - Lancero Lovers of America
  • CigarMan37CigarMan37 Posts: 432
    Yes indeed my 5 Vegas BOTL
  • MartelMartel Posts: 3,306 ✭✭✭✭
    Gray4lines:
    Good write up! I have tried one cask strength, and I though it was fantastic... I agree that it is not particularly strong in terms of spice or knock-you-on-your-ass power, but for me it was definitely not a mild stick. There is some strength buried in there between the sweet and peppery flavors. Maybe you'll notice a little more strength when you go sans tequila. Maybe not.

    Great stick though, I'd smoke em again in a second! I need to add it to the cigars-to-get list.
    This

    I found it had a nice meatiness to it.
    Intelligence is knowing that a tomato is a fruit; wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad.

    I like Oliva and Quesada (including Regius) a lot.  I will smoke anything, though.
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